“According to my information, the plane broke up into three pieces. Information on the dead or wounded is being clarified. All the rescue services have gone to the scene,” the emergency situations ministry’s press secretary Abdisharip Bekilov said.

The refuelling plane took off from the US Manas airbase and crashed near the mountainvillageofChaldovar, around 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital Bishkek and close to the border withKazakhstan, the spokesman said.

The press secretary of theUStransit centre, Akzhibek Beishebekova, told AFP that it was gathering information on the incident.

“We cannot confirm or deny the plane crash,” she said, adding that the number of people on board the plane was not known.

“At around 1455 Kyrgyz time (0855 GMT), a resident of one of the nearby villages said that a plane blew up in the air. On the wings of the plane he saw an American flag,” the interior ministry said in a statement.

A local official told AFP that the pilot apparently managed to escape from the plane before it crashed.

“The preliminary information is that the pilot jumped out with a parachute. They have gone to look for him,” the deputy district chief Anatoly Ivannikov said.